Club 24 + Celebrates 13 Years of Philanthropy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By Jawahar Malhotra

SUGAR LAND: Over the years, the Club 24 Plus events has not been so much the program that will follow but the anticipation of the venue where it will be held. In the past few years, each of the social club’s signature philanthropy and Diwali events has been held, through a long rotation, at the homes of its members and each has been more superlative than the other, as if trying to outdo one another.

This past weekend, the venue was exceptional as C24+ held its annual Philanthropy event on Saturday, April 27, where members hand out donation checks to their favorite charities. The setting was at the tastefully decorated home of Asheet and Alka Yagnik who threw open their large backyard complete with a swimming pool and tiki-torches for the event. The social hour, dinner and check donation were held in the outdoor yard under deep blue skies with entertainment afterwards bt the very talented and skillful magician Robert Berry who made many minds spin with his disappearing card tricks and China Rings tricks.

C24+ President Alpa Shah emceed the program and gave thanks to her organizing committee and recognized her other Board members and committee chairs including long-time founding member Ashok Garg.

“A few like-minded people got together in 2006 and formed a club for people who would not only like to socially connect with each other, of course before Facebook, but also make a difference in the society in whatever small way they can,” said Alpa Shah. “Thus the idea of the Philanthropy event shaped up. And today we are gathered to celebrate this highest characteristic of humanity. Philanthropy is not about money… it is about feeling the pain of others and caring enough about their needs to help. True wealth is, good we do in this world. Charity begins at home. With that thought on mind, Club 24, encourages their members to donate and reciprocates their effort by matching part of their donation.”

Nine charities which have traditionally received the support of the C24+ members once again came to accept their checks from the donor members. The C24+ members matched a portion of each donation. Each recipient gave a short speech about their charity and its work. The nine charities that received the checks were Interfaith Ministry’s Meals on Wheel program, Daya, Pratham, Cry, Ekal Vidyalay, Save a Mother, The Kinkaid School, the Rotary Club of Memorial Spring Branch and Ovarcome.

Snacks and dinner were by Dawat Catering (whose co-owner Mahesh Shah did double duty as a member) and Bijay Dixit of Unique Photo Images.